News

Labour have neglected young people

I FEEL compelled to write in regarding youth unemployment in Thurrock and the spin some members of the Labour group are putting on the issue.

Youth unemployment is not a new phenomenon and has been growing steadily throughout the Tory-led coalition and under the previous Labour government.

Many of the problems the youth of today now have are directly linked to the previous Labour government’s neglect of young people.

Too many young people were told to go to university, with many doing less than credible degrees with little relevance to the world of work.

Labour did not encourage enough young people to learn traditional trades such as plumbing, mechanics, electricians and instead chose to import cheap migrant labour from Eastern Europe and beyond.

To put it frankly, they gave up on young people as it proved too much time, effort and hassle to train them which has now led to a culture where some young people feel if they do not go to
university there is little out there they can do.

I therefore find it completely hypocritical for Polly Billington and the Thurrock Labour group to state Labour has young people in mind, when the evidence suggests otherwise.

It’s all well and good for Labour to list all the things they would do to create jobs for the youngsters of Thurrock, but they had years to tackle a growing problem and they did very little other
than stockpile every 18-year-old into university and then increase job competition with their open borders policy. The reality is that last year alone 900 young people were taken on under the
apprenticeship scheme in Thurrock, showing at least the Government is trying to do something to tackle the issue.

More importantly, they are giving young people a chance to see what the world of work is like as well as hammering home you have to work for things, not expect it in the form of handouts. – L
BERNARD, Maunder Close, Chafford Hundred.